Accounting standards

A handful of boldface names from the financial world lent their signatures to a letter to federal regulators, asking that no public company be exempted from the internal controls provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

More than three years after it's original passage, but still in the infancy of its implementation, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is facing attacks on a number of fronts.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced it will charge two KPMG auditors for failing to act on a number of red flags that could have caught an estimated $30 billion accounting fraud sooner.

The International Federation of Accountants is seeking nominations for a public member for the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants and for the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board, two independent standard-setting boards within the federation.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board will sponsor a roundtable on May 10 in Washington to discuss second-year experiences with the internal controls provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

The Financial Accountant Standards Board issued a final standard aimed at improving the financial reporting of certain hybrid financial instruments by requiring more consistent accounting and eliminating exemptions.

China will adopt International Financial Reporting Standards by Jan. 1, 2007, the country's minister of finance announced.

Risk management and compliance software provider Movaris has joined XBRL International -- the nonprofit consortium of roughly 350 companies working toward the development and support of the Extensible Business Reporting Language.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board announced that the Securities and Exchange Commission has approved PCAOB Auditing Standard No. 4 -- "Reporting on Whether a Previously Reported Material Weakness Continues to Exist."

The Securities and Exchange Commission needs to make improvements to its hiring and personnel practices, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has outlined a productive year that includes a host of projects coordinated with the International Accounting Standards Board, an exploration into the fundamental concepts of accounting, four substantive standards projects and a half-dozen implementation documents.Arguably, FASB's most far-reaching project is its work on the Conceptual Framework. Any decisions reached on this project - which is being developed in conjunction with the IASB - would impact virtually every accounting standard that will be set in the United States and around the world.

Practitioners and industry observers concur with the call by Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson for tax simplification.Although legislation calls for the Taxpayer Advocate to list at least 20 of the most serious problems facing taxpayers, Olson went a step further and included a major section on tax simplification.

The Internal Revenue Service has come out of the gate in 2006 with a shiny new employment tax form for small employers.Effective January 1, employers who expect to owe no more than $1,000 in federal employment taxes for the 2006 calendar year will be required to file Form 944, Employer's Annual Federal Tax Return, replacing the quarterly Form 941.

Twenty-five different sets of contract law - one for each of the EU's individual member countries - looked recently as if they might soon be joined by a "26th Regime" applicable for certain areas in financial services.However, that proposal has now been put on the back burner by the European Commission's Internal Market Division, which oversees the EU's financial legislation.

Many of the 19 former tax professionals facing trial over the sale of KPMG tax shelters, whose legality has been questioned by the federal government, have asked for the dismissal of the charges in a variety of joint motions.More than 25 motions were filed in Manhattan's U.S. District Court, several requesting that the charges against the professionals be dropped entirely, as no court has ever actually ruled the shelters to be illegal. Many additional motions asked for the dismissal of charges because the defendants said that they were being unfairly singled out from other KPMG officials who sold similar shelters.

The overriding objective of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is to strengthen the public securities market by holding management accountable for material information filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and released to investors. To help achieve this overall goal, Sarbanes-Oxley includes several underlying objectives, specifically improving corporate governance, promoting ethical business practices, enhancing the transparency of financial statements and disclosures, and ensuring that company executives are aware of material information emanating from their business.Sarbanes-Oxley is not law for nonprofit organizations, but its guidelines for achieving its underlying objectives can be applied to all organizations, including nonprofits. By adopting the principles and best practices promoted by Sarbanes-Oxley - customized to meet an organization's unique nature and needs - a nonprofit organization can better realize its mission and meet the expectations of its key stakeholders.

The Roth 401(k) contribution option, even with almost five years of advance warning, is taking a while to catch on.Reports are that fewer than 20 percent of eligible 401(k) plans now have them, with the rest sticking with tried-and-true pre-tax deferral contributions. If field data is accurate, however, this tepid reception is about to change. When employers, especially those also wearing the hat of the highly paid employee, begin to run the numbers, Roth 401(k) accounts are looking very attractive. This view is especially true following the recent release of favorable final regulations on Roth 401(k) contributions.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board's agenda for 2006 will rank among its most ambitious ever.Within the first few months of the year, it may have six or more projects underway, with exposure drafts going out the door as comment letters are coming in.

On Dec. 6, 2005, Financial Accounting Standards Board Chairman Robert Herz addressed the American Institute of CPAs National Conference on Current Securities and Exchange Commission and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Reporting Developments in Washington.The chair traditionally speaks at this venue, but often the remarks are only perfunctory. This time, though, Herz showed his leadership by calling on capital market participants to lay aside their self-interest and work together to achieve "progress ... in improving the quality and transparency of financial reporting."

Canada's Accounting Standards Board has agreed to adopt international accounting standards for the country's public companies over the course of the next five years.The accounting rules known as Canadian GAAP will cease to exist as a separate basis of financial reporting after the end of the implementation program. The 25-member board also agree to pursue separate strategies for three major categories of reporting entities, including public companies, private businesses and not-for-profit organizations.